Suing a Freeholder – Anyone with experience?

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I would really appreciate any advice on this issue please.  A few years ago due to unemployment and a prolonged period without any rental income, I got into arrears with my service charge. Nothing too big £350.

After resuming the monthly payments and contributed towards the arrears

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Tories told: adopt some Labour rental policies or risk losing election

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Housing Crisis:

The Tories are caught on the horns of a dilemma: do they stick with their current “free market” approach to solving the housing crisis, or do they risk the ire of the predominantly Tory voting private landlords by doing as the Conservative leaning magazine The Spectator advises – adopt some Labour rental policies to avoid losing the next General Election.

There are far more tenants than landlords, and the housing crisis has affected “Generation Rent� far more that it has the relatively affluent property owning private landlord group, so will the policy makers take notice?

The Spectator says:

“Much rot is spoken about how the young have it so bad. In fact, this generation is healthier, richer and better-educated than any before.

“…But the one area where they do struggle is in buying a house. The asset boom of recent years has disfigured the economy, sending property prices soaring and conferring vast wealth on pensioners while giving the young a mountain to climb. Home ownership rates stand at a 30-year low. And the proportion of 25 to 34 year-olds in private rented accommodation has almost doubled in the last ten years.�

The pro-Brexit, Conservative-supporting magazine The Spectator has come up this rather surprising advice for the Tories, anathema to some, but does the author fully understand the implications of the Corbyn proposals for landlords. And would such a policy not make the housing situation worse not better?, one likely effect being that private landlords would desert the sector in their droves.

The article, “A home truth for the Tories: fix the housing crisis or lose power for ever� states that the housing crisis poses “an existential threat� to the Conservatives. Whereas rising house prices were once seen as an electoral asset, this has now changed dramatically. When parents start to see their children facing a lifetime in rented housing, their votes will be in question as well, thinks The Spectator:

“If you are stuck in a rented flat, frustrated at your inability to afford your own home, the housing policies advanced by Jeremy Corbyn at last year’s General Election are far more appealing – a cap on rent rises, three-year minimum tenancies and a licensing scheme that aims to drive rogue landlords out of business… Capitalism will never appeal to those without any capitalâ€�, it says.

The article goes on to argue for some (not all) of Jeremy Corbyn’s proposed changes, but included are longer tenancies of three years with controlled rents for that period. It implies that these would cost no public money to introduce, and might be a solution, seemingly without regard to the likely reaction of private landlords, and the public cost of policing the rent controls.

Read the full Spectator article here

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Tories told: adopt some Labour rental policies or risk losing election | LandlordZONE.

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How do I claim back the 25% of Residential Finance cost under Section 24 when I am in a Property Partnership?

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My wife and I established a partnership with HMRC in 2012 when we started a small business – which currently involves renting out two residential properties in Plymouth. Being retired our only other income is from UK pensions, so we are basic rate taxpayers.

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Some Landlords will be Better off after a Rate Increase

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Bank Rate:

“Most landlords have little to fear from a Bank of England rate increase next month and could, in fact, stand to benefit!�

This is the bold assertion from Upad CEO and portfolio landlord James Davis as speculation continues as to whether the base rate will increase next month as has previously been anticipated.  James continues:

“After the Monetary Policy Committee kept the Base Rate at 0.25% in February, the consensus was that their next decision, now just two weeks away, would signal the start of regular rate increases.  And whilst Mark Carney’s comments last week seemed to suggest that a rise may not be quite that soon, either way I don’t think most landlords have all that much to worry about – either now or at such point as rates do increase.

“There are a number of factors to consider here.  Any such rate increase won’t have come out of the blue and borrowers have had plenty of time to consider their response and how they might mitigate any negative impact it could have.

“But that’s assuming an increase would have a detrimental impact.  Upad’s own data suggests that over 50% of landlords with loan liabilities are on fixed term mortgages.  Simply this means that there’ll be no immediate effect either way for them.  Furthermore, a significant percentage of these will be on deals of two to three years which, when they do come to refinance, are likely to have already been superseded by more competitive products.  By all accounts that means that many landlords stand to actually make lower repayments in the future.

“Meanwhile, for those landlords looking to go onto a new product shortly, this potential interest rate rise has been long anticipated and lenders will have already incorporated it into their current rates given that the 12-month Libor SWAP rates started increasing at the start of this year.

“However, this isn’t just a message about mortgage interest rates.  Due to an on-going lack of affordable housing for purchase, there’s a burgeoning tenant population with more tenants tending to remain in rental properties for longer than they have done in the past.  This means, I believe, that it’s actually an awesome time to be a landlord and those who are serious about it, won’t be put off by an interest rate increase.�

©1999 – Present | Parkmatic Publications Ltd. All rights reserved | LandlordZONE® – Some Landlords will be Better off after a Rate Increase | LandlordZONE.

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Sheffield Council outline plans to review licences for HMOs at our roadshow

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Sheffield Council are not planning to renew a Selective Licensing Scheme which is currently in operation in the city. Speaking at the RLA’s Landlord Advice Roadshow last week, Peter Ramsey of Sheffield Council  told a packed room of landlords that the Council has ‘no plans’ to renew a Selective Licensing scheme in the city. As […]

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Thanks to the only accepted hate campaign in the UK

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Thanks to the only accepted hate campaign in the UK, landlords are forced to take emergency steps or leave the market NOW.

Section 24 (introduced by our tenant friendly Einstein, George Osbourne) forces landlords to pay tax on their mortgage interest payments

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Assured Shorthold Tenancy Ends

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End of an AST:

Questions: What happens when an Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) comes to an end? Will the tenant have to leave or does she need to sign a new agreement? What if a tenant wants to leave early? How long can a periodic tenancy last?

When the fixed term (minimum of 6 months) of an assured shorthold tenancy ends there are several options for both landlord and tenant:

(1)  If the landlord has served a valid Section 21(1)b or for tenancies commencing after 1st October 2015, the new notice 6A, (notice requiring possession) giving at lease 2 months’, then the tenant will have to leave immediately after the 2 months’ notice ends, if the landlord still requires it.  (Note: landlords sometimes serve notice as a matter of course earlier in the tenancy (after the first 4 months) and will not necessarily require the tenant to leave at the end) If the notice was served less than 2 months to the end of the fixed term the tenant will not be required to leave until after the 2 months’ notice period is up.

(2)  If the landlord offers the tenant a new tenancy term by asking the tenant to sign another agreement, then obviously the tenant can stay until the end of that new tenancy term.

(3)  If the landlord (whether he served a Section 21 notice or not) does nothing to indicate that he wants the tenant out, then the tenancy will automatically (without the need for either party to do anything) become a Periodic Tenancy.

A periodic tenancy is for a period equal to the rent payment periods, e.g, if rent is paid monthly then the tenancy becomes a monthly periodic tenancy. In other words the tenancy enters into a series of one-month tenancies which will continue on indefinitely until one or other party decides to terminate.

If the landlord wants a periodic tenant to leave he or she must now serve a different Section 21 Notice – a Section 21(4)a, (or for tenancies commencing after 1st of October 2015 the new 6A s21 notice). Here the notice must be for a minimum of 2 months ending on the last day of a rent period, (though the 6A notice is simply 2 months) which in practice is usually more than 2 months. Note the notice should identify a specific date (the last day of a period) AFTER which the tenant must leave.

If the tenant decides to leave during a periodic tenancy (the tenant cannot leave during the fixed term) she must give the landlord one month’s notice in writing (where rent is paid monthly) or 4 weeks’ notice in writing (where rent is paid weekly), ending on the last day of a tenancy term. In other words notice must be for a full tenancy term, so in practice the tenant may need to give more than a month’s notice.

Surrender

Sometimes, a tenant will wish to leave early during the fixed term – end their contract early. It is then a matter of, will the landlord be willing to release them early from their contract?

A contract is a contract, so both landlord and tenant are tied in for the fixed period of the tenancy. If the tenant wished to leave early, or if the landlord wanted to end the term early, the same applies to both – it is to be done by mutual agreement only.

In the case of a tenant leaving early, and surrendering his or her tenancy, one option is to agree an amount of compensation equivalent to the landlord’s losses. The landlord has the discretion to simply release the tenant from the contract, or agree compensation, which the landlord would be entitled to get.

For example, a one-off payment, paying the rent until the landlord can re-let, or the landlord’s re-letting costs, or both. It is important in this situation that the landlord gets a formal letter of surrender of the tenancy from the tenant.

See: https://www.landlordzone.co.uk/documents

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Call of the week – GDPR and data protection

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GDPR and data protection are the words on everyone’s lips at the moment – and this week’s Call of the Week again deals with the new responsibilities which come into force next May. The caller was a landlord with three properties. He told the landlord advice team he has a good relationship with all of […]

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How to get the best Landlords Insurance

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IF you own more than one let property then you could save money and improve cover by buying a landlord portfolio of insurance.

If you own multiple properties, there are benefits to buying the insurance all together as discounts can be applied that single properties do not attract.

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Rented Housing report – perfect storm for young people

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Housing Report:

Responding to today’s report, “The future fiscal cost of ‘Generation Rent’,” (17 April 2018) from the Resolution Foundation, which suggests that up to a third of young people today could be renting homes into their retirement, David Smith, Policy Director for the Residential Landlords Association said:

“Today’s report shows the perfect storm that young people face. With home ownership remaining difficult for many to access, demand for homes to rent continues to increase. This is at a time when Government tax increases are discouraging many landlords from investing in new homes to rent out.

“Ministers need to make pragmatic changes to their approach to private rented housing, with a series of policies that support, rather than attack, the majority of private landlords who are individuals to invest in the new homes to rent we need alongside all other tenures. This includes greater support and encouragement for those prepared to offer longer tenancies but who are concerned about being locked into agreements where tenants might be failing to pay their rent, not looking after their property or committing anti-social behaviour.”

Recent research by the RLA has found that 69 per cent of landlords are being put off investing in further homes to rent as a result of the Government’s three per cent stamp duty levy on the purchase of homes to rent out.

The RLA is calling for a number of reforms to support those in rented housing, including:

• Not applying the stamp duty levy where landlords invest in property adding to the net overall supply of housing.
• Using a combination of tax incentives and improvements to the process for regaining possession of a property where tenants are failing to look after it or not paying their rent to provide greater confidence to landlords to offer longer term tenancies. At present it can take up to 22 weeks for a landlord to regain possession of a property when faced with tenants causing disruption. 73 per cent of landlord have told the RLA that they would be encouraged to offer longer-term tenancies if such reforms were made.
• Action to stop mortgage providers from prohibiting landlords from offering longer tenancies. 44 per cent of landlords have told the RLA that they have mortgage conditions that limit the maximum length of tenancy that can be offered.
• Establishing a new housing court to improve and speed up access to justice for tenants and landlords when things go wrong.
• Providing relief from Capital Gains Tax where a landlord is prepare to sell a property to a sitting tenant to support first time home ownership.

The Residential Landlords Association: The home for landlords

• RLA PEARL’s report, The Impact of Taxation Reform on Private Landlords, is available here

Of the almost 3,300 landlords questioned:

• 69 per cent said that the decision to impose a three per cent stamp duty levy on the purchase of new homes to rent in 2016 is putting them off investing in further rental property.
• 73% said that they would be encouraged to offer longer-term tenancies if both the Section 8 process for regain possession of a property was reformed and if there was tax relief.
• 44% of landlords have mortgage conditions that limit the maximum length of tenancy that can be offered.

The future fiscal cost of ‘Generation Rent’

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